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NOVEMBER 00 |
Last week's state election turned out well for the university, with additional
Cal support elected to the state legislature and passage of an important
proposition.

Proposition 39 allows
a simple majority of voters, rather than a two-thirds majority, to pass
future school bonds. Californians voted the proposition into law Nov.
7 by a comfortable margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.

It will have a significant
impact on Berkeley's ability to seek state funding for capital improvements
and new building projects in the future.

"Passage of Proposition
39 is good news for the Berkeley campus and for all of education," said
Steve Arditti, assistant vice president and director of state governmental
relations in the Office of the President. "This will help Berkeley get
the funding it needs for capital improvement projects."

The measure will make
it easier for the UC system to win passage of finance bonds for capital
expenditures on the ballot, a process that had required a majority of
67 percent of voters to approve in the past.

Gov. Gray Davis and
former Gov. Pete Wilson, who teamed up to support the proposition, were
pleased at the outcome, as voters had been divided down the middle going
into the election.

"This was a measure
that had been endorsed by the Regents, but was neck-and-neck among voters
going into the election," Arditti said. "We're very happy that it passed."

In approving the legislation,
voters have agreed to let their property taxes pay off school bonds that
pass by a 55 percent majority, rather than a two-thirds supermajority
of 67 percent, required under the existing measure, passed in 1978.

The proposition also
clears the way for a simple majority of voters to pass local school bonds
for capital improvements, new buildings and classrooms, and allow them
to continue class-size reduction measures in the K-12 system and in community
colleges.

In local elections,
all of the Berkeley City Council incumbents won reelection, and only one
new member, Miriam Hawley, joined the board. Hawley served previously
on the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit Board and worked closely with the
campus developing the student "class pass."